Internet and Social Media (49)
Find narratives by ethical themes or by technologies.
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- 5 min
- Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference
- 2024
Provides an empirical analysis of content moderation practices across major social media platforms within the European Union (EU), utilizing data from the Digital Services Act (DSA) Transparency Database.
- Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference
- 2024
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- 5 min
- Companion Proceedings of the Web Conference
- 2024
Content Moderation on Social Media in the EU
Provides an empirical analysis of content moderation practices across major social media platforms within the European Union (EU), utilizing data from the Digital Services Act (DSA) Transparency Database.
- What is the distinction between the moderation of content and censorship?
- How would you define effective content moderation? What has shaped your views on this over the last five years?
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- 20 min
- Business Insider
- 2018
The founders of Eternime (Marius Ursache) and Replika AI (Eugenia Kryuva) digitally recreated their friends, and as a result, founded their companies in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The goal for Eternime is to have enough data for an individual to create a digital avatar once the technology becomes available. Replika is the closest competitor. The article explores the technical and ethical challenges of developing chatbots on a commercial scale. E.g., what age should the user be immortalized? Or how can we prevent the chatbot from revealing information that the deceased would otherwise not reveal to someone?
- Business Insider
- 2018
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- 20 min
- Business Insider
- 2018
2 Tech Founders Lose their Friends and Decide to Bring Them Back
The founders of Eternime (Marius Ursache) and Replika AI (Eugenia Kryuva) digitally recreated their friends, and as a result, founded their companies in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The goal for Eternime is to have enough data for an individual to create a digital avatar once the technology becomes available. Replika is the closest competitor. The article explores the technical and ethical challenges of developing chatbots on a commercial scale. E.g., what age should the user be immortalized? Or how can we prevent the chatbot from revealing information that the deceased would otherwise not reveal to someone?
- What other ethical problems arise with the commercial production of chatbots?
- Given the tools, would you prefer making your own digital immortal representation or trusting a company to do it?
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- 15 min
- Splinter
- 2015
Intellitar marketed its service as a form of digital immortality. For a monthly fee of $25, clients could upload personal data, including voice recordings and photographs, to build a lifelike digital version of themselves. The company claimed to have attracted around 10,000 customers. However, despite its ambitious vision, Intellitar ceased operations, leaving its clients without access to their digital counterparts.
- Splinter
- 2015
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- 15 min
- Splinter
- 2015
This Startup Promised 10,000 People Eternal Digital Life – Then it Died.
Intellitar marketed its service as a form of digital immortality. For a monthly fee of $25, clients could upload personal data, including voice recordings and photographs, to build a lifelike digital version of themselves. The company claimed to have attracted around 10,000 customers. However, despite its ambitious vision, Intellitar ceased operations, leaving its clients without access to their digital counterparts.
- Identify the stakeholders in a situation where a company offering digital immortality services goes bust.
- In what ways are digital remains similar or different to physical remains and memorials? How might we preserve our digital selves in more permanent ways to avoid start-up failures like this one?
- Is this type of service something you could imagine using yourself or for a loved one?
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- 90 min
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
The authors define DAI as the ecosystem of commercial platforms—ranging from startups like Afternote and Departing.com to tech giants like Facebook and Google—that commodify and manage digital remains (online data, profiles, memories) of deceased users. Using four real-world cases, the author discusses how economic incentives can distort the “informational body” – rewriting profiles, automating posts, and reshaping digital personas.
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
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- 90 min
- Minds and Machines
- 2017
The Political Economy of Death in the Age of Information
The authors define DAI as the ecosystem of commercial platforms—ranging from startups like Afternote and Departing.com to tech giants like Facebook and Google—that commodify and manage digital remains (online data, profiles, memories) of deceased users. Using four real-world cases, the author discusses how economic incentives can distort the “informational body” – rewriting profiles, automating posts, and reshaping digital personas.
- Should the digital remains of a deceased person be editable by family, friends, or the company hosting the digital immortal?
- Do tech companies have an ethical duty to preserve or remove digital remains?
- How are digital remains companies similar or different to funeral homes and cemeteries in the physical world? What laws govern these types of businesses and should they be applied to digital memorial companies?
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- 20 min
- AI & Society
- 2022
A high-level breakdown of popular ethical and legal considerations regarding postmortem data use. It aims to discern the extent to which users are comfortable with their data being used posthumously. Important findings include most users wanting their data automatically deleted after their death. A majority of users find that using their data in passive ways is acceptable, and there is a higher degree of tolerance among younger and heavy internet users when it comes to how their data is used.
- AI & Society
- 2022
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- 20 min
- AI & Society
- 2022
Using Deceased People’s Data
A high-level breakdown of popular ethical and legal considerations regarding postmortem data use. It aims to discern the extent to which users are comfortable with their data being used posthumously. Important findings include most users wanting their data automatically deleted after their death. A majority of users find that using their data in passive ways is acceptable, and there is a higher degree of tolerance among younger and heavy internet users when it comes to how their data is used.
Is it ethical to collect data about a new technology considering that most if not all participants don’t have a working understanding of the technology?
How might users ensure their privacy rights are preserved after they die? Should there be some kind of system of payment for personal data after death?
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- 35 min
- Wired
- 2021
In this podcast, interviewees share several narratives which discuss how certain technologies, especially digital photo albums, social media sites, and dating apps, can change the nature of relationships and memories. Once algorithms for certain sites have an idea of what a certain user may want to see, it can be hard for the user to change that idea, as the Pinterest wedding example demonstrates. When it comes to photos, emotional reactions can be hard or nearly impossible for a machine to predict. While dating apps do not necessarily make a profit by mining data, the Match monopoly of creating different types of dating niches through a variety of apps is cause for some concern.
- Wired
- 2021
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- 35 min
- Wired
- 2021
How Tech Transformed How We Hook Up—and Break Up
In this podcast, interviewees share several narratives which discuss how certain technologies, especially digital photo albums, social media sites, and dating apps, can change the nature of relationships and memories. Once algorithms for certain sites have an idea of what a certain user may want to see, it can be hard for the user to change that idea, as the Pinterest wedding example demonstrates. When it comes to photos, emotional reactions can be hard or nearly impossible for a machine to predict. While dating apps do not necessarily make a profit by mining data, the Match monopoly of creating different types of dating niches through a variety of apps is cause for some concern.
How should algorithms determine what photos a specific user may want to see or be reminded of? Should machines be trusted with this task at all? Should users be able to take a more active role in curating their content in certain albums or sites, and would most users even want to do this? Does the existence of dating apps drastically change the nature of dating? How could creating a new application which introduces a new dating “niche” ultimately serve a tech monopoly?
Gadget Lab: Breaking Up, Hooking Up